Area codes 306, 639, and 474 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the entire Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Area code 306 is one of the original North American area codes assigned in 1947. Area codes 639 and 474 were added to the numbering plan area in creation of an overlay complex for the entire province in 2013 and 2021, respectively. The incumbent local exchange carrier is SaskTel.
When the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) created the first nationwide telephone numbering plan in the second half of the 1940s, the United States and Canada were divided into 86 numbering plan areas. Saskatchewan received area code 306 in 1947.
By the mid-2000s, area code 306 came under the threat of central office code exhaustion because of demand for telecommunication services from the proliferation of cell phones and other mobile devices requiring unique telephone numbers, particularly in Regina and Saskatoon.
In long-term nationwide planning in October 2010, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) tentatively reserved a group of new area codes for future relief of existing numbering plan areas that were expected to exhaust in the next 25 years; area code 474 was set aside for relief of area code 306 in Saskatchewan. [1]
In early 2011, a routine analysis by the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA) revealed that area code 306 had experienced an unforecasted surge in telephone number allocation and was at risk of exhaustion within three years (a situation referred to as a "jeopardy condition"). [2] In response, the CRTC immediately initiated relief planning measures. [3]
The planning committee considered various options, including a north–south split of the 306 area code. Under this plan, half of the province would keep the 306 area code, while the other half would transition to a new area code. Ultimately, the committee determined that an overlay area code was overwhelmingly better. Given the CRTC's decision the year before, the committee's initial planning document (dated May 18, 2011) recommended the assignment of area code 474 for this purpose, mirroring an assumption that had already been reported in the press. [4] [5]
By the time the committee's planning document was finalized on July 13, 2011, the recommended new area code had changed to 639, an option that was regarded as equally technically viable. [6] The document did not address this divergence from the CRTC's prior allocation nor give a reason for the change, but news reports suggest that it was SaskTel who made the decision to eschew 474, citing a sensitivity to tetraphobia in the community, and that the choice of 639 as a replacement was based on its mathematical similarities with the existing area code. [7]
The proposal to implement 639 as an overlay had the effect of allocating 15.8 million numbers to a province of just over a million people. However, SaskTel and other carriers wanted to spare existing subscribers, particularly in rural areas, the expense and burden of changing their numbers. Overlays have become the preferred method of area code relief in Canada; no area codes have been split in the country since 1999.
On August 26, 2011, the CRTC accepted the relief planning committee's recommendation. [8] [9] Ten-digit dialing was phased in for area code 306 starting on February 25, 2013. On that date, a permissive dialing period began during which seven- and ten-digit calls could complete. Ten-digit dialing became mandatory in Saskatchewan on May 11, 2013, two weeks before the in-service date of May 25. Beginning on September 26, 2013, standard error intercept announcements resumed. [9] [10] Until the implementation of the overlay, Saskatchewan was the last of Canada's original NPAs where seven-digit dialing was still possible.
In July 2018, area code 474 was reserved as a future area code for all of Saskatchewan, as area codes 306 and 639 are expected to exhaust their central office prefixes as early as June 2022. [11] The in-service date of area code 474 was October 2, 2021, with no changes in the established dialing procedure. [12]
The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the telephone country code 1. Some North American countries, most notably Mexico, do not participate with the NANP.
Area codes 519, 226, 548, and 382 are overlay telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for most of southwestern Ontario.
Area codes 954 and 754 are the telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Broward County, Florida. Notable cities in the numbering plan area are Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Hollywood, Parkland, Sunrise, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Davie, Weston, Dania Beach, Oakland Park and Pembroke Pines.
In telecommunications, an area code overlay complex is a telephone numbering plan that assigns multiple area codes to the same geographic numbering plan area (NPA). Area code overlays are implemented in territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) to mitigate exhaustion of central office codes in growth areas. The method has been in use since 1992, and has been the exclusive method of area code relief since 2007.
Ten-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure in the countries and territories that are members of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). It is the practice of including the area code of a telephone number when dialing to initiate a telephone call. When necessary, the ten-digit number may be prefixed with the trunk code 1, which is referred to as 1+10-digit dialing or national format.
Seven-digit dialing is a telephone dialing procedure customary in some territories of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for dialing telephone numbers in the same numbering plan area (NPA). NANP telephone numbers consist of ten digits, of which the leading three are the area code. In seven-digit dialing it is not necessary to dial the area code. The procedure is also sometimes known as local format or network format.
Area code 867 is the area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the three Canadian territories, all of which are in Northern Canada. The area code was created on October 21, 1997, by combining regions that were previously served with area code 403 and area code 819 in one numbering plan area (NPA). As the least populated NPA in mainland North America, serving about 130,000 people, it is geographically the largest, at 3,921,739 km2 (1,514,192 sq mi), with Alaska (907) a distant second.
Telephone number pooling, thousands-block number pooling, or just number pooling, is a method of allocating telephony numbering space of the North American Numbering Plan in the United States. The method allocates telephone numbers in blocks of 1,000 consecutive numbers of a given central office code to telephony service providers. In the United States it replaced the practice of allocating all 10,000 numbers of a central office prefix at a time. Under number pooling, the entire prefix is assigned to a rate center, to be shared among all providers delivering services in that rate center. Number pooling reduced the quantity of unused telephone numbers in markets which have been fragmented between multiple service providers, avoided central office prefix exhaustion in high growth areas, and extended the lifetime of the North American telephone numbering plan without structure changes of telephone numbers. Telephone number pooling was first tested for area code 847 in Illinois in June 1998, and became national policy in a series of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) orders from 2000 to 2003.
Area codes 514, 438, and 263 are telephone area codes of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for Montreal and most of its on-island suburbs, specifically the Island of Montreal and Île Perrot in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Area code 250 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of British Columbia outside the Lower Mainland, including Vancouver Island–home to the provincial capital, Victoria–and the province's Interior region. In addition, the numbering plan area extends into the United States community of Hyder, Alaska, located along the Canada–United States border near the town of Stewart. The incumbent local exchange carriers that service the area code are Telus, Northwestel, and CityWest in the city of Prince Rupert.
Area codes 204, 431, and 584 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Manitoba. Area code 204 is one of the nine original North American area codes assigned to Canada in 1947. Area codes 431 and 584 were assigned to the same numbering plan area (NPA) in 2012 and 2022, respectively, forming an overlay complex.
Area codes 778, 236, and 672 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of British Columbia. They form an overlay complex with area code 604, which serves only a small southwestern section, the Lower Mainland, of the province, and area code 250, which serves the rest of the province.
Area code 403 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Alberta. The numbering plan area encompasses the southern third of the province, which includes the Calgary area. This numbering plan area is also served by area codes 587, 825, and 368, which form a complex overlay for all of Alberta.
Area code 780 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Alberta. The numbering plan area comprises the northern two thirds of the province, including the Edmonton area. The area code was established in 1999 in a split of area code 403, which had served the entire province since the establishment of the original North American area codes in 1947. The numbering plan area is also served by area codes 587, 825, and 368, which form a complex overlay for all of Alberta.
Area code 807 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian province of Ontario. The numbering plan area (NPA), comprising only Northwestern Ontario, was created in early 1962 in an area code split of NPA 705. The main reason for the split was not central office prefix exhaustion, but routing efficiency for calls from Western Canada to northwestern Ontario.
Area code 709 is the telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the entire Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Area code 604 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The numbering plan area comprises the Metro Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, Howe Sound / Sea to Sky Corridor, Fraser Valley and the lower Fraser Canyon regions. The major city is Vancouver. The area code is one of the nine original North American area codes assigned to Canada in 1947.
Area codes 816 and 975 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for most of the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, the St. Joseph area, and all or part of 15 surrounding counties in northwestern Missouri. The numbering plan area originally comprised most of the northern and western two-thirds of the state, bordering with Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, but has been reduced to a ribbon bordering Kansas. 816 is one of the original 86 area codes created in 1947. The numbering plan area was converted to an overlay complex with area code 975 in 2023.
Area codes 587, 825, and 368 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the entire Canadian province of Alberta. They form an overlay with area code 403 of southern Alberta, and northern Alberta's 780. The complex overlay involving a total of five area codes in Alberta mandated ten-digit dialing throughout the province.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| North: 867 | ||
| West: 403, 780, 368/587/825 (overlay) | 306/639 | East: 204/431 |
| South: 701, 406 | ||
| Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut area codes: 867 | ||
| Manitoba area codes: 204, 431 | ||
| Alberta area codes: 403, 587/825/368, 780 | ||
| North Dakota area codes: 701 | ||
| Montana area codes: 406 | ||